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14 May 2010

Turtles in their hundreds! - Madrid, Spain [Day Two]

Even after a big night, I was up relatively early Sunday morning. Not feeling 100%, but my philosophy is - I'm going to feel crap weather I'm in bed or out, so I may as well be out seeing the city.

The weather was again beautiful and warm. My first destination for the day was Las Ventas - the main Bull Ring in Madrid. It is a large circular brick structure, with a lot of intricate detail. There was a tour of the Bull Ring, which I decided not to take - I'll be back in Madrid in August and I'm planning to go to a bull fight then. But I wandered around and checked the place out.

With no major plans for the day I decided to take my book and head down to Buen Retiro Park. I spent hours lying in the sun, sleeping or reading my book. Beeeautiful! After a while I decided to stop being lazy, and went for a huge walk around the park. It was really beautiful - there were small areas with sculpted gardens and colourful flowers. There were wide open green spaces, and small winding paths. The park is so big that I got completely lost for at least an hour before finding my way back to the entrance.

The previous day I had heard that in the Madrid Main Station (Atocha) there is a large indoor tropical forest. The best part is there is a pond that is home to a family of turtles. I love turtles, so I had to go and take a look. I was not disappointed - there were hundreds of them! It was so cool. Check out the video.

Late afternoon / early evening I just wandered with no real destination, taking photos and enjoying the last of the sun. I found the Mercado de San Miguel - an amazing indoor market with the most delicous looking food. As the sun went down and the city lit up I took hundreds of photos of all the stunning buildings.

Later in the evening I met up with Theresa and Meagan - two girls I met in Egypt. We went out for more Beer and Tapas and had a catch up.

Observations from day two - hostels aren't always a haven for smart, funny, or even NORMAL people. There was this crazy lady in my room who was exibiting all the tell-tale insane signs - talking to herself - for hours! Staring into space - for hours! As well as other strange behaviour. Other than that, my observation from day one sticks - Madrid is a beautiful city.